Staff shortage leads Metro Transit to suspend six commuter routes for mid-June

King County Metro Transit, which already announced September service trims, couldn’t hang on that long before suspending six lines starting Monday, due to a shortage of bus drivers, maintenance teams and supplies.

Routes 16, 232, 237, 301, 304 and 320, which are peak-only commuter lines, will not operate June 12-16 and June 20-23, Metro announced. In addition, some weekday trips will be scrapped between June 12 and Sept. 1 for Routes 15, 16, 17, 18, 64, 212, 216, 217, 218, 268, 301, 303, 304, 311, 320 and 342.

“We’re still delivering 95% of the service. We want to ensure reliability throughout the system,” said Metro spokesperson Al Sanders. A leaner schedule improves Metro’s odds of providing all of its promised runs.

Metro initially announced a one-week hiatus for the six peak-time routes, but managers decided Thursday afternoon to stretch that another week. Doing so will give transit workers more lead time to prepare fleets and schedules for returning to normal by late June, and perhaps a third week of cancellations won’t be needed, Sanders said.

Route 162 in Kent, now out of service, will resume Monday because Metro was able to shift buses there, he said. That line carries 200 daily riders, with 15 weekday runs to Lake Meridian, Kent’s East Hill, West Meeker Street and Downtown Seattle.

As of March, the six suspended lines totaled an average 790 weekday passengers in March, including as few as 13 on Woodinville-Bellevue Route 237. That’s less than 0.5% of Metro’s daily clientele.

The routes generally serve corridors where other buses are available nearby, Metro says. The agency posted other travel options at kingcountymetro.blog.

Metro carried 6.3 million riders in April 2023, which is 58% of April 2019 pre-pandemic ridership, according to the National Transit Database.

Commute travel is rapidly changing countywide, and growing on many local lines, as the COVID pandemic wanes and offices reopen.

Metro’s Route 320, established in October 2021 direct from Kenmore to South Lake Union, carried 358 daily riders this spring. It will be suspended next week and again in the Sept. 2 countywide service shake-up. Metro suggests taking a different bus to Northgate or Roosevelt Station, then Sound Transit light rail to Capitol Hill Station, followed by Route 8 down Denny Way; or a train to Westlake Station, plus backtracking north with buses or the South Lake Union streetcar. Or park and ride beginning at Northgate Station. In other words, replacing a one-seat SLU bus trip with a three-seat ride.

Metro general manager Michelle Allison has launched a recruiting campaign, including advertisements on buses. Mechanic pay ranges from $63,274 to $90,397 per year, while driver pay starts at $26.05 per hour after 33 days of paid training, topping out at $37.96 for experienced operators.

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 587 has said inadequate pay is one reason for Metro’s worker shortage, and King County lacks incentives such as the $5,000 signing bonus offered by Community Transit in Snohomish County, or $7,000 at Kitsap Transit.

“Ultimately, the compensation package needs to go up, because people aren’t applying for the jobs,” said Cory Rigtrup, Local 587 vice president for maintenance workers. Contract talks are underway and the union requests annual raises that keep pace with King County costs of living, he said.

Metro currently employs 2,500 bus and train operators, or 500 fewer than normal, and 230 mechanics, or 70 fewer than usual, Rigtrup said. Besides pay, a national lack of skilled tradespeople is also hampering transit, he said.

Meanwhile, Metro riders are bracing for the Sept. 2 round of service cuts, which would suspend or reduce 32 routes.

“I am super frustrated at Metro,” said Janette Brimmer, an environmental attorney using Route 18 from Crown Hill direct to downtown. Two morning runs will be dropped this summer, while her favorite 7:28 a.m. trip remains. But she still worries, because that run has been sporadic lately. The alternative D Line is nine blocks away, while the nearby Route 40 winds though Fremont and South Lake Union for 45 minutes, she said.

Brimmer said she looks at the city’s push to coax people out of cars, and to revive downtown. “All of these decisions about eliminating commuter routes seem to run counter to that.”